Amid 2020 Woes, Duba Assist Unforgettable
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
December 30, 2020
GRAND RAPIDS – Nearly two months have passed since Maggie Duba received acclaim for an unselfish act of kindness at the end of the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 Girls Cross Country Finals.
Duba, a Grand Rapids West Catholic junior, sacrificed her time and position in the eventual race standings to help a fallen fellow competitor make it to the finish line.
It was an uplifting moment during an unprecedented year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m really surprised at the attention it has received, and I wasn’t thinking at all like the news is going to see this, but I’m glad it did and everyone has said how it was needed in 2020,” Duba said. “It shows the good that can come out of sports, and it’s just another reason for me to be thankful that I was able to run this season.”
Duba was heading down the final stretch of her race Nov. 6 at Michigan International Speedway when she saw Remus Chippewa Hills junior Sarah Storey in anguish.
Storey had fallen to her knees, struggling mightily to rise back up and continue.
“I remember coming around the curve, and I was on the straightaway when my legs started to give out a little bit,” Storey said. “I was determined to try and make it to the end as best I could, but I really couldn't move my legs anymore and then I finally went down.
“After that it was a struggle to get back up, and I was thinking maybe I could crawl or something. I was stuck until Maggie came along.”
After a rough start to the race, Duba had found her form in the second mile and headed into the stadium looking to make a strong closing push.
That’s when she noticed Storey. The pair were about 15-20 yards from the finish.
“I was trying to pass as many people and still get a good time,” Duba said. “I saw her down, and it was just kind of instinct to go right up to her and pick her up. I’ve seen it before in the Olympics, and I guess seeing that made me think that I needed to do that, too. I threw my goal of having my best race out the window because helping her was more important.”
Duba didn’t hesitate, and aided Storey by helping her up and offering encouraging words.
“She did not want to get up so I had to talk to her a little bit and slowly pulled her up and helped her,” Duba said. “The time is still ticking, and the girls I had worked hard on passing were passing me. I did notice that, but I didn't stop helping her.
“I just kept walking with her when she was up and got her running, and when she was running a little bit I slowly let go so she could finish on her own and I ran to the finish a little bit ahead of her.”
Duba was determined to make sure Storey also completed the race.
“I told her that you can’t not finish right now,” Duba said. “She had pushed so hard like everyone there racing, and anyone who has had that great of a finish deserves to finish that race, especially when she was so close to finishing. I was glad that I was able to help her because if she wasn’t able to finish then that would've been really sad, especially this year.”
Unforgettable finish
Although disorientated at the time, Storey vaguely remembered what Duba told her.
“From what I remember, she kind of said, ‘Come on, you can do this, you didn’t come this far not to finish.’ She just really tried to encourage me and convince me to get up and everything,” Storey said. “For me it was a big reminder of how sports are a lot bigger than just how fast you can run or how well you can do. It’s the people that make the sport, and I think what Maggie did showed a lot of people that, including myself.
“I think sometimes, especially at the state finals, you are concerned about your place or your time, but sometimes it’s not about that. It’s about the people you can help instead of just your finish.
Storey collapsed after crossing the finish line, and was taken to an ambulance. She was treated for about 20 minutes and then released.
“It was actually kind of weird because nothing like that had ever happened to me before,” Storey said. “They checked my vitals and everything and they thought about giving me an IV because they thought I might be dehydrated. They didn’t give me anything, and I went home that night and laid low and recovered the next couple days. I was pretty tired.”
Storey visited her doctor a few days later.
“They said it was a fluke thing,” she said. “It might’ve been a combination of a couple things that weren't quite right and they all came together on the same day. It might've been the heat because it was a little warmer than normal for November that day. It really was the perfect storm.”
West Catholic cross country coach Noreen Duba, Maggie’s mother, watched the entire ordeal unfold from the infield while taking pictures.
At the time, she was unsure if it was her daughter who had helped the fallen runner.
“I could see that someone had fallen, and she had helped them up. I got a little panicky at that point,” Noreen Duba said. “I saw her help her up, but I was running along behind the cement walls to get there and I didn’t see the complete finish. I didn’t see Maggie let her go and let Sarah finish on her own. Then we lost track of Sarah.”
The Dubas left the race not knowing the name of the girl, which school she attended or her condition.
“I didn’t know what happened to her, and I was going to go home and look at the results and try to find someone from a school that had a red uniform to see who this girl was and what happened,” Noreen Duba said.
A mutual friend from a cross country camp who was at the meet had seen the finish and recognized Maggie Duba.
Ironically, he went to Remus Chippewa Hills, and the coach called later that night to give an update. Noreen Duba and Storey’s mother, Beth, talked the next day.
Noreen Duba, who became emotional after the race, wondered what she would’ve done with a similar circumstance.
“I’m glad that Maggie did that, and I said to my assistant coach, ‘In that oxygen-deprived state, running hard toward the finish, focusing on that finish, would I have done the right thing?’” she said. “I was very proud and impressed by Maggie because that was her instinct. There wasn’t a thought process.
“Maggie stopped and helped her ,and I think I would’ve done that because that’s the way I’ve raised my kids and how I coach my team. You would do the right thing. Nothing is as important as helping somebody in need. I was really glad and relieved that she did that because you hate to see that happen.”
Maggie Duba, in her second straight trip to the Finals, finished the race in 20 minutes, 43.2 seconds and was 93rd. Storey was 98th (20:46.69). At the time Storey fell, she was among a pack that would go on to place in the mid-70s, while Duba’s group at the time was about 10 seconds behind and would place in the 80s.
Cartwheels up
After Maggie Duba’s show of sportsmanship, she displayed a unique move upon crossing the finish line: She did a cartwheel … sort of.
“It wasn’t as great as I thought it was going to be because I was so tired,” Maggie Duba said. “I did that, and it was awful and embarrassing and I looked really dumb, but I did it for my teammates who came to support me.”
Maggie Duba was alone at the meet after West Catholic missed out on qualifying as a team. However, her teammates made the long trip to watch her run and challenged her to do something different at the end.
“They dared me to do that because my friend and I had been working on our handstands all season and she wanted me to walk on my hands across,” Duba said. “There was no way I was doing that, but I did the cartwheel and they thought it was hilarious and they were so glad I did it. They were waiting all race for me to do that so I’m glad I did it for them because they were really happy.”
Duba and Storey hope to return to the Finals next year as seniors. Storey said she learned valuable lessons from her experience.
“I have a little more perspective about how deep the sport can really go and how many people it can reach,” she said. “It just makes me excited to finish out my senior year of cross country and see how I can impact other people by what I’ve learned through this experience.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for four years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Grand Rapids West Catholic’s Maggie Duba, right, encourages Remus Chippewa Hills’ Sarah Storey while helping Storey complete their Division 2 Final on Nov. 6 at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Duba, upon finding Storey on the ground about 15-20 yards from the finish line, assists her to her feet and guides her the rest of the race. (Below) Storey, left, and Duba approach the finish. (Click for more from RunMichigan.com.)
West Ottawa's Olson Aims to Add XC Title to Growing List of Achievements
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
August 24, 2022
HOLLAND – Arianna Olson won her first individual state title when she outran the field in the 3,200 meters at last spring’s Lower Peninsula Division 1 Track & Field Finals.
Less than three months later, the West Ottawa senior standout is gearing up to accomplish the same feat on the cross country trails.
“That was my first state title in running, but it was something I wasn’t completely sure of because there’s a lot of good girls in the state,” Olson said. “Since I started running, the 3,200 is more of my event, and things went really well for that.”
Olson has blossomed into one of the most talented distance runners in the state and garnered three top-10 finishes in three years at the Finals.
She finished runner-up as a freshman and eighth as a sophomore, and was among the favorites again last year on the way to placing third at the LPD1 Final at Michigan International Speedway.
She was unbeaten during the regular season, setting a new personal record (16:45), and she also won a Regional championship.
“I think last year at state I was prioritizing more of the postseason, and my big goal was to qualify for nationals, so that was a few weeks after,” Olson said. “That was the priority in training, and I tapered before state, but it wasn’t the best training the week before. I knew I had more chances after the state meet.”
Olson’s performance, coupled with freshman Helen Sach’s fifth-place effort, helped West Ottawa finish as Division 1 runner-up behind Ann Arbor Pioneer.
“Third is still excellent, but the goal was to win an individual title and a team title and we came up short on both sides,” Panthers cross country coach Kyle Barnes said. “There were a combination of things that went into that, but she hasn’t won a cross country title so that is certainly on her radar. Michigan has a lot of good runners, so she is going to have her hands full to do that this year.”
A month after last fall’s Finals, Olson set out to prove herself at the national level, and did just that in San Diego. Olson competed in the Eastbay Nationals, which featured the top 40 distance runners in the country. She placed fourth at a Midwest qualifier in Wisconsin to qualify.
Olson finished 13th in California with a time of 17:43.04 to gain All-American honors.
The following month, Olson was named as the Gatorade Michigan Cross Country Player of the Year.
She was the first West Ottawa athlete to earn the prestigious honor, which also recognizes academic achievement and exemplary character off the field.
“That was cool because it doesn’t only take into account athletics, but also the academics and service side of it,” said Olson, who carried a 4.0 GPA.
“I was really happy about that because it wasn’t just about athletics, it was recognizing the whole part of being a student-athlete.”
In June, Olson took part in another national event. She traveled to Seattle to compete in the Brooks PR Invitational and placed seventh in the 3,000 run.
“It was another good opportunity to race at a national-level meet, and I think at both national events it was good to get to know some of the other girls that I’m competing against,” Olson said. “It’s getting harder to find competitive races that have big pack running, and sometimes you have to be creative to find that in the regular season. Nationals is a good opportunity to push myself with the other girls and see what I can do.”
Barnes said Olson has benefited from competing against elite competition.
“All of that is valuable information, and getting those types of experiences and running against that level of competition is invaluable for her,” he said. “We talk about if she banks that information and learns from the positives and negatives, then she will continue to get better.”
Barnes took over the West Ottawa program when Olson was a freshman, and knew her potential after she set several middle school records.
“She works her butt off, and she was one of the first athletes to come through the program when I took over,” he said. “She has helped to build a culture within our program. She does all the right things, and the results speak for themselves.”
While Olson is aspiring to finish up as a champion in November, she’s taking her final season in stride.
“Cross is my favorite over track & field, so it’s about making the most of it with one more year with my team and just pushing really hard,” she said. “This season won’t necessarily be based on my times, but just running the courses to the best of my ability and knowing that at the end I’ve given my full effort.”
Olson, who is undecided on her college choice, will run her first race with her teammates Friday at Grand Rapids South Christian.
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) West Ottawa’s Arianna Olson approaches the finish during last season’s LPD1 Final at Michigan International Speedway. (Middle) Olson rounds a corner during another 2021 race. (Top photo by Run Michigan; middle photo by Laura Veldhof Photography.)